The 5 best champagnes of 2020 to celebrate New Year's Eve
An exhaustive list of bubbles to stock up on for Christmas, New Year’s Eve, and beyond.
Céline Bossart
Céline Bossart
The story behind Stuyvesant Champagne is just as exciting as the bubbles within the bottles, especially if you’re someone who appreciates the thoughtful dichotomy of tradition and contemporary perspective.
Brooklyn native (of Bedford-Stuyvesant, to be exact) Marvina Robinson, a longtime lover of Champagne, was inspired to collaborate with a Champagne producer to create her own exclusive label for her forthcoming Champagne bar concept, Coupette NYC. Robinson seeks to champion Black entrepreneurship, equity and diversity in the world of wine and great Champagne.
You can enjoy for yourself at home with one of two (or both) B. Stuyvesant cuvées: a non-vintage reserve Brut and a classic brut Rosé. While both are deliciously quaffable, the ultra-elegant, gold-hued Grand Réserve Brut is rife with florality on the nose and gingerbread on the palate.
If you’re looking for a strikingly complex and bone-dry Champagne from a standout year, look no further than this Blanc de Blancs (100-percent Chardonnay) from 2008, an exceptional vintage for the Champagne region.
Larmandier-Bernier follows organic and biodynamic winemaking processes — which can mean many things but, in short, indicate the grapes have been grown and harvested sustainably and nothing has been added to or removed from the final product — this translates to unadulterated expression of terroir and is as close as it gets to licking the chalky soil of the region (in the best way).
The Longitude Blanc de Blancs is full of just-ripe red berry notes, earthy undertones and pointed minerality. Pair this with seafood or sip it on its own.
This top-rated and bestselling rosé Champagne might just be your new go-to. Marc-Hébrart’s Cuvée Rosé, a blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, is truly exquisite — especially for a bottle that can usually be found for $50 or less.
It’s an easy-drinking wine that’s wonderfully complex, bone dry and velvety on the palate with pronounced minerality and notes of creamy vanilla, freshly-picked flowers, red berries and toasted nuts. If you’re buying this bottle for any reason, you’ll want to grab a couple — it’s a perfect rosé Champagne for kicking off apéritif and continuing to drink into your dinner’s main course.
Copper in color with round, bursting flavors of perfectly-ripe and caramelized pineapple and stone fruits, baking spices and praline, this demi-sec Champagne is a perfect representation of the sweeter end of the Champagne spectrum.
It’s got a touch of sweetness that’s far from cloying and, thanks to its higher sugar content, a wine like this can be paired with a wide variety of desserts.
Champagnes and their sparkling cousins from around the world might be reserved in some households for special occasions but, once in a while, you’ll come across a bottle that’s all on its own worthy of celebration. In fact, there are countless incredible Champagne houses — along with producers behind the many alternative sparkling wines you’ll find on shelves, such as Lambrusco, Prosecco, Cava, and more — who’ll prove with one sip that “becoming a person who considers bubbles to be a regular, everyday habit” should top your list of 2021 resolutions. Before we get into our top picks of the year, here are a few things to keep in mind as you browse these champagnes.
Champagnes follow a general sweetness scale: The classification on the label will tell you how dry or sweet the wine is. For reference, here are the terms you’ll encounter, from driest to sweetest: Brut Nature, Extra Brut, Brut, Extra Dry, Dry, Demi-Sec and Doux. It can be confusing but just remember that anything Brut and below will be dry and anything Extra Dry and above will have anywhere from a touch of sweetness to, well, a lot of sweetness.
Champagne can only come from its eponymous region in France and it must follow strict guidelines to bear the name on any label. It is made using the “Méthode Champenoise” or Traditional Method, which is defined by its secondary fermentation taking place inside the bottle as opposed to taking place within a large tank.
Other sparkling wines from around the world can be made using either method.
Champagne can be made from a select handful of specific grape varieties, the main three being: Chardonnay (a white grape), Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier (black grapes)
If the bottle has neither of these terms, it’s safe to assume that it’s a blend of both white and black grapes.
Just because a bottle of sparkling wine doesn’t say “Champagne” on its label doesn’t mean it’s not as good as Champagne. If you’re looking to expand your palate, save some cash or both, check out some of our alternative recommendations above.
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